Lee APP Tips & Tricks for a new User?

[Norcal707]

New APP owner. Have had it running for a few days decapping 223 and its been doing pretty good. Took a bit of tweaking of the adjustment of the Lee Universal Case Feeder and the APP's Pusher/Slider and put some carnuba wax on the slider rails. Also stiffened the Slider Spring internally with a piece of a WD40 plastic spray tube.

A couple of glitches remain - one is I'm getting primers hanging up/not dropping when punched out and not allowing the next case to push the problem casing out & advance into the shell holder despite my believing the decapping pin in the Lee Universal Decap Die set correctly. Pin is nearly new and is set flush with top of die and die set so APP Handle when pulled down ends up parallel to the floor. Issue seems to affect crimped primers more - Lake City 2000 headstamp was problematic whereas I ran close to 1k of PMC non-crimped without one hanging up.

The other is frequent misalignment of the decapping pin with the mouth of the 223 case mouth, requiring fiddling with the casing to pass the pin through. Shell Holder (#4) turns freely but seems to have excessive front to back play/slop that may be causing misalignment issue? I know Lee has guided decapping pins - maybe I need to get some?

[RedlegEd]

Hi,
I've had problems with crimped primers as well, and I usually turn the decapping pin down a couple of turns more. I found the reason is the primer cup tends to bulge from the pin and anvil before letting go so it takes another 1/16-3/32" of pin to push them all the way out. You don't see that in the non-crimped brass because because the primer will push out of the pocket long before the cup starts bulging. There are several other threads where folks have made 3D printed mods to the Lee APP that help align the brass (and bullets for sizing.) Not sure if the search function is working, but have a look. There's lots of information out there.
Ed

[rockshooter]

I had the same primer issue. I finally just ordered another universal deprimer die and mounted it in an extra C-press. The APP for me is a labor saver, once it gets set up, but since it is so fiddly to set up, not a time-saver. The weakness, as I see it, is in the support of the feed tubes. With the collator, taping the 4 tubes together stiffened it up a bunch. With the single tube setup, I shimmed the bottom of the tube I mainly use with some electrical tape. One thing I like is that it will deprime 10mm/40 without separating them. One really bad thing tho- don't ever get an odd 9mm case in with the 40s or an odd 40 in with the 9mms- that makes a royal mess! Sizing PC's bullets is really fast once everything is set up. In general, good idea, but needs some fine-tuning.
Loren

[Norcal707]

I switched over from 223 to 9mm today. Did the penny mod to the Collator and have not had a single casing go in upside down. Still having too many primers hanging up and having to flick the case with a finger to get it to drop. Will drop the decap pin slightly below flush and see if that helps any. Am still very happy using the APP vs the FA Hand Deprimer I had used to pop over 20k primers. Way faster and no chance of developing carpal tunnel!

[rockshooter]

whats the penny mod all about!
Loren

[Gunor]

Drill a hole in a penny and use a spent 22LR case to hold the penny in the center of case collator - No more upside down cases.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/lee-case-collator.864347/

[rockshooter]

found it! wow! thanks!
Loren

[Iron369]

I’ve had so much trouble getting the APP to work right. Last time I messed with it, I had 5 cases get stuck before I broke my recapping pin. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210429/af94e0cb594a4ad90deda83e3ca1159a.jpg

[redriverhunter]

I like my lee app quite a bit. The primer sticking I have had this happen and my decapping pin got pointed after a while, and the primer were getting poked for lack of a better term. I took a fine file and blunted the end of the decapping pin problem solved. I have had a few stuck cases. I was full length resizing 308 brass, on the up stroke I pulled the brass out of the shell holder (there was plenty of lube). I think this is because there is less than 1/2 of the rim to pull on. I had a piece 380 brass get mixed in with what ever I was sizing and I got the 380 flush with the bottom of the die (that was a mess to get out). I have found that the app works best for me, if I do not run it fast, a smooth easy pace. Anytime I feel resistance I stop something is not right. I have shoot quite a few bullets and cases across the room because something was jammed up.

[Norcal707]

whats the penny mod all about!
Loren
https://youtu.be/Zbhdud4nYls

[highmountaincaster]

I have one also, mine ran fine. You do need to drop the universal decapping pin lower, it won’t hurt nothing and will solve your problem. I was very surprised how well mine ran actually compared to what I have read on the net. My problem was trying to resize 9mm brass, that was a no go because the die carrier on mine was defective and would “fish mouth” when under a load. You could grab the die carrier and tilt it back and forth it was that bad. So, boxed it up and sent it back for a replacement. I should get it Saturday and we shall see if it has the same problem. I since got the Lee Classic Turret Press so, I won’t need the App for sizing. You can flar the brass mouths with it aswell and the they go to the ACP for priming. I will mainly use mine for decap and bullet sizing.

[onelight]

On my APP if the case is not positioned correctly to de-cap it is almost always a problem with the position of the shell holder . If the case drags on the one side of the shell holder it may not get positioned correctly.

[poppy42]

Just drop the de-capping pin lower!

[Handloader109]

I did about 4k of my 223 cases I had sitting around. I ordered the case primer swager and at the same time ordered a 223 pin for the universal decapper I was using.(same issue, not dropping out primers and not 100% lining up at decap.) The larger pin worked well until I broke it (using on different case and different lee press. But i can't say it was perfect either.

I like the press a lot, I 3d printed a 4 tube collector and I'm using white pex pipe for tubes. (couldn't fine anyone that had the lee collector at the time. Works well, slightly large diameter for sizing 9mm bullets, but it does work.
I did almost wear out the swager running those 4k cases through it. The rod the spring rides I. has a very thin upper retaining shoulder and it wears on the aluminum housing. Btw, it isnt rated at fl sizing of 308 cases.... the x holders are too thin.


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[highmountaincaster]

Just received my replacement, it’s a lot better than my other one. The carrier is nice and tight and the shuttle works great. Just got done depriming 525pcs of 9mm and it took me alittle under 15 minutes. Looks as if Lee has some QC issues they need to work on.

[tomme boy]

If you are getting cases stuck lube them. I lube all brass now. Even 9mm. I don't have any problems anymore. Try it. You will be amazed at how little effort it takes. I have shoulder problems and have to do this. It is not as bad pain wise since I started doing this.

[Iron369]

If you are getting cases stuck lube them. I lube all brass now. Even 9mm. I don't have any problems anymore. Try it. You will be amazed at how little effort it takes. I have shoulder problems and have to do this. It is not as bad pain wise since I started doing this.

My brass was really dirty and even though I was lubing it, I was having problems. Picture is of a handful of dirty next to a handful of cleaned to show what I was dealing with. Once I cleaned the brass then decamped, no more problems https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210518/6dd5557584e45ac39d8e0473236249d0.jpg

[tomme boy]

Only other time I had problems was brass that had LOTS of loadings on them. The rims were really bad. In my ablp they ran fine but not the app. So I have been cycling lots of brass into the scrap bucket after a couple loadings now. I have 10 lifetimes of brass. So I can spare some.